1“Now, priests, this command is for you.
2If you don't listen and don't seriously commit to honoring my name,” says Yahweh of Armies, “then I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. In fact, I have already cursed them, because you are not taking this to heart.
3Watch out! I will punish your descendants and smear your faces with the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried away with it.
4Then you will know that I sent you this command, so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says Yahweh of Armies.
5“My covenant with him was about life and peace; I gave them to him so he would revere me. And he did revere me; he stood in awe of my name.
6The instruction of truth was in his mouth, and no dishonesty was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many away from sin.
7For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies.”
8But you have turned away from my path. You have caused many to stumble over the law. You have corrupted the agreement I made with the Levites,” says Yahweh of Armies.
9“Therefore, I have also made you despised and disgraced in front of all the people, because you have not followed my ways, and you have shown favoritism in how you apply the law.
10Don’t we all have one Father? Didn’t one God create us? So why do we betray each other, breaking the agreement our ancestors made?
11Judah has been unfaithful, and something detestable has happened in Israel and in Jerusalem. Judah has made Yahweh’s beloved holy place unholy by marrying women who worship foreign gods.
12Yahweh will remove from the community of Jacob anyone who does this, whether they are watching or responding, and anyone who offers sacrifices to Yahweh of Armies.
13You are doing this again: you cover Yahweh’s altar with tears, weeping, and groaning, because he no longer accepts your offerings or receives them with favor.
14Yet you ask, ‘Why?’ It is because Yahweh has been a witness between you and the wife you married in your youth, whom you have betrayed, even though she is your partner and the wife with whom you made a covenant.
15Did Yahweh not make them one, even though he had more of the Spirit? And why one? He was seeking godly offspring. So watch your spirit, and do not betray the wife of your youth.
16For “I hate divorce,” says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “and I hate a man who covers himself with violence,” says Yahweh of Armies. “So watch your spirit, and do not be unfaithful.”
17You have made Yahweh tired with your words. Yet you ask, ‘How have we made him tired?’ By saying, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in Yahweh’s sight, and he is pleased with them,’ or by asking, ‘Where is the God of justice?’